Elon Musks xAI raises $6 billion to expand AI capabilities – The Tribune-OxBig News Network

Elon Musk’s AI company called xAI has raised $6 billion, as it plans to expand its supercomputer to house at least one million graphics processing units (GPUs).

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), investors gave a minimum of $77,593 per the filing.

A Wall Street Journal report mentioned that Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz were likely to contribute to the round, along with Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

This new cash brings xAI’s total raised to $12 billion. Adding to the $6 billion tranche xAI raised earlier this year.

In May this year, the AI company behind Grok raised $6 billion to accelerate the research and development of future technologies. The company said that the funds from the Series B funding round will be used to take xAI’s first products to market and build advanced infrastructure.

“xAI is primarily focused on the development of advanced AI systems that are truthful, competent, and maximally beneficial for all of humanity. The company’s mission is to understand the true nature of the universe,” the company said in a blog post.

Earlier this year, xAI raised $500 million in commitments from investors towards a $1 billion goal.

Founded in 2023, xAI unveiled its first AI product in November last year. It recently announced the Grok-1.5 model with long context capability, as well as Grok-1.5V with image understanding.

Meanwhile, the tech billionaire has filed for a preliminary injunction against Sam Altman-run OpenAI for alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

According to reports, the motion for an injunction accuses OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, Microsoft, LinkedIn co-founder and former OpenAI board member Reid Hoffman, and former OpenAI board member and Microsoft VP Dee Templeton of “various illicit activities and seeks to halt them”.

The allegations also include converting OpenAI’s governance structure to a for-profit and “transferring any material assets, including intellectual property owned, held, or controlled by OpenAI, Inc., its subsidiaries, or affiliates.”

OpenAI, who had earlier called the lawsuit “blusterous” and baseless, said, “Elon’s fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit.”

IANS